I recently completed a road based tour from Perth to Geraldton riding Sir Lancelot and pulling BOB. The full write-up for those interested can be found here. A summary of the ride follows for the rest of us

My plan was to catch the bus from Perth to Geraldton and ride back via Dongara, Leeman, Cervantes, Regans Ford and Guilderton, i.e., over five days of riding. I ended up cutting out the overnight stay at Guilderton and heading back to Perth via Two Rocks, Yanchep and the coast, making my last day's ride 151 kilometres.

The bus trip part was straight forward. Transwa took the bike and trailer without dramas ($10 charge for the bike). The bike was stood up and covered with a blanked to minimise damage to the paint. That said I did manage to loose a retaining clip from the BOB trailer which caused me a little headache or three in Geraldton and introduced me to yet another LBS whom customer service was not something that they understand. That said, I learnt that tie-wire can come in pretty handy.

From Geraldton I headed south mainly on the Brand Highway (not too bad an experience) and the Indian Ocean Drive (needs a name change - not too much ocean in view). The weather was bad on the first day of riding, but at least I had favourable winds. From Port Denison (Dongara) the rain pretty much moved on, but the winds where variable. They have a wind farm at Emu Downs for a good reason and boy did I found out why!

Overall an interesting ride, maybe not the most scenic with long sections of not a lot of change in the big picture but it is surprising how much more one focus on the details.

Next adventure? Next section of the Munda Biddi (off road) and riding to Kalgoorlie via Hyden and Norseman.

John Lewis wrote:Sounds like an interesting ride Andrew. I've wondered about the level of motor traffic though. Guess it depends on the route.

G'day

It had its moments for sure, but overall the traffic pretty well behaved on the Brand Highway. I had more trouble with 4WD drivers coming out of Cervantes on the Sunday, which was the last day of the first week of school holidays. This was on the road heading to the Brand Highway. Lot of agro along that stretch for some reason.

well the tent sites are so hard it is like hammering into cement, no wind protection. the cabins are top dollar and the people running it were yuk.i wont ever be back.I should have guessed by the name, tourists are suckers you grab as much money as you can from. go for something called a holiday park or a campers park anything but a tourists park.there is a park just south of geralton at greenough river and everytime I stay there I dont want to leave. but I heard it has bee earmarked for destruction.

rustguard wrote:great read, that tourist park in dongara is the pits stay well clear. what was your average speed?

what is the problem with the tourist park?

Are we referring to the one at Port Denison? If yes, it looked pretty run down and was very expensive. $65 for an on-site van that I would think twice about putting my dog in. The Big 4 up the road was much nicer and less dollars for a much nice cabin.

Andrew[/quote]Are we referring to the one at Port Denison? If yes, it looked pretty run down and was very expensive. $65 for an on-site van that I would think twice about putting my dog in. The Big 4 up the road was much nicer and less dollars for a much nice cabin.

Andrew[/quote]yes the southern one, not good for tents and I had problems with the other accomodation in the park

Aushiker wrote:Are we referring to the one at Port Denison? If yes, it looked pretty run down and was very expensive. $65 for an on-site van that I would think twice about putting my dog in. The Big 4 up the road was much nicer and less dollars for a much nice cabin.

rustguard wrote:yes the southern one, not good for tents and I had problems with the other accomodation in the park

It wasn't popular either. I road around the park; hardly anyone camping there and low occupancy of the cabins. The Big4 back towards Dongara a little bit was close to being booked out. I reckon that says a lot.

Just wondering how you found Sir Lancelot for a multi-day tour. I was thinking on the train that you didn't cover that much distance each day... then I remembered you were towing a trailer!

Cheers

Greg

Gee Greg you are a hard task master . I think I averaged around 100 km a day, including two days over 100 km. It is not the same as riding an Audax ride.

Sir Lancelot was very comfortable and easy to ride. Really didn't notice the weight of the bike or the trailer for that matter when riding with both, but boy he felt light when I road around towns without the trailer.

He really does need a kick stand but. I will probably do with a Hebie bi-pod. I found it quite a pain not having a stand.

Aushiker wrote:I think I averaged around 100 km a day, including two days over 100 km. It is not the same as riding an Audax ride.

That is a good distance considering how much you were transporting.

Aushiker wrote:Sir Lancelot was very comfortable and easy to ride. Really didn't notice the weight of the bike or the trailer for that matter when riding with both, but boy he felt light when I road around towns without the trailer.

Good to hear. I was wondering if you would find him a better touring bike than a commuting bike.

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